


Community Center Stories

by girljen



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-09-30 22:49:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20454824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girljen/pseuds/girljen
Summary: What do the villagers of Pelican Town use the Community Center for, anyway? Take a peek inside at some of the classes, projects, and meetings that happen at the Community Center.





	1. Dance Class with Demetrius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demetrius teaches a dance class including individual dancing, line dancing, and partner dancing. Maru makes a bet with Elliott, and Vincent gets in trouble with his mom.

“Welcome to dance class! I’m glad you all could make it.” Demetrius, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, took a swig of water from his steel water bottle. Nearly a dozen villagers were gathered around him in the front room of the community center. “As some of you know, I love to dance. It’s a good way to stay active and take your mind off of everything. I’d like to teach three types of dances today--an individual dance, a line dance, and a partner dance. That’s why I’ve given you these pieces of paper.” He held a piece of paper up. The paper had three lines. “On the first line, I’d like you to write which individual style of dance you’d like to learn. On the second, write a line dance you’d like to learn. And on the bottom line, write a partner dance you’d like to learn. When you’re done, bring the papers to me, and start warming up. Stretch, jump rope, do jumping jacks, drink water...we’re about to get active.”

There was a rush of whispers and shuffling papers around the room as everyone talked to their neighbors and wrote down their dances. A few people knew exactly what they wanted. Most of the students thought about it for a couple minutes.

Vincent was the last to finish. “Mr. Demetrius!” He ran full tilt to the front of the room. “I don’t know what a line dance is, so I just put an individual dance and a partner dance! But they’re the same thing! Okay? Bye!” He ran full tilt back toward the door.

Demetrius chuckled as he read the paper: “Number one, breakdance. Number two is blank...number three, breakdance with my friend. Alright then, Vincent, we’ll see!”

Jodi giggled. “That’s Vincent for ya…”

Caroline giggled right back. “I wonder how he’ll react to partner dancing! You know,” she said in a mocking tone, “Jas might have cooties…”

“HEY!” Vincent’s yell was surprisingly strong for such a small kid.

Caroline and Jodi turned to look at him.

Realizing that he’d just yelled at his mom’s friend, he straightened up and lowered the volume. “Ms. Caroline, cooties aren’t real and it’s mean to say that people have cooties. Miss Penny told me.”

“Oh!” Caroline put a hand over her chest. “I’m sorry. That’s how we used to joke around when we were kids, but that was a different time.”

“Yes, ma’am. Just please don’t say Jas has cooties again.”

“Alright, Vincent.”

Jodi pulled Caroline aside as Vincent walked off. “Thanks for humoring him. I’m just glad he was polite.”

“Me too!” Caroline giggled. “We might need to have another wine night at the Saloon soon, you know…”

Demetrius set the papers down on the table near the fireplace. “Excuse me!”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“I’ve looked through all of your papers, and I noticed a couple trends. First of all, you guys love the Cowboy Shuffle! So that will definitely be our line dance. Secondly, I notice about a 50/50 split between people wanting to learn to waltz, and people wanting to learn to two-step. We can spend a bit of time on both. And last but not least...y’all are all over the place when it comes to individual dances! I saw disco, hip hop, breakdancing, ‘Just don’t wanna look like a fool on the dance floor,’ I saw some blanks...so I’m gonna teach you a kind of funky hip hop style that goes well with pop music so you can hold your own. And if anyone’s interested, maybe I’ll throw a couple easy breakdance moves in there.”

“YEAH!” Maru and Vincent both cheered, then looked at each other and laughed.

“Maybe I can learn to spin on my head!” Vincent yelled.

Jodi cringed.

“Don’t worry, mom, we won’t be doing anything super dangerous today,” Demetrius laughed. He looked to Vincent. “But the easy stuff looks cool, too!”

“Alright!” Vincent jumped in the air.

“Now, let’s start with the Cowboy Shuffle. This is a line dance. Line dances are done by groups of people standing in lines or rows. They don’t touch each other, but they all follow the same choreography for a really cool effect. Line dancing became popular in the disco club scene, decades ago, with dances like the Bus Stop and the Electric Slide.”

Caroline, Jodi, and Marnie nodded at each other and giggled.

“Yeah, you remember those!” Demetrius continued. “Anyway, especially around here, most line dances are country line dances, and the Cowboy Shuffle is a really popular one now. First, I’ll show you the dance, then I’ll teach you. I’ll start by explaining the choreography. Then we’ll do it together slowly, while I count. Then I’ll put on the music, and we’ll do it that way.” Demetrius walked over to the boombox in the corner. He pressed a few buttons. A country party anthem started playing.

“Alright, here goes!” He stepped to the front of the room. He tapped his foot a couple times, then spun around. He went through a short choreography of stepping, stomping, shaking his hips, and turning, then did it again, and struck a pose at the end. As he walked over to the boombox, he spoke. “That’s it! You’ll notice it starts with a spin. Be sure and spin clockwise, toward your right hand…”

Demetrius explained the dance and walked the students through the choreography. Penny, Vincent, and Clint were naturals. Caroline seemed to have trouble telling right and left apart. Jas was struggling, and she was frustrated.

Jas tugged on Ms. Penny’s hand during a break. “Why is this so hard?” She whined.

Penny knelt down and spoke matter-of-factly. “Because your brain has to tell your body to move in ways that you’re not used to moving. It also has to keep track of remembering the order to do the steps, and telling your left and right apart, at the same time you’re doing this new stuff.”

“Why isn’t Vincent having trouble, then?”

“Jas, everyone has different talents. Vincent is very artistically talented, and apparently, he’s also a talented dancer! But think back to the classroom. You catch on to all the math right away, and you’re a good reader, too. You have academic talent--you’re smart. Even though you’re younger than him, you read and do math at a higher level.”

Jas sighed. “I know...but I wanna be a good dancer, too!”

“You can. It just takes practice. It will take WAY more practice for you to dance well than it will for Vincent, but you are perfectly capable of learning the skills. Having a natural talent makes things easier, but they’re already possible.”

“Ugh. I wish I could tell my right and my left apart, at least.” Jas looked down at her shoes.

“I can help you with that!” Penny stood and patted Jas on the back.

“Alright, everyone ready?” Demetrius called to the class. “Let’s go through the song two more times, then move on.”

Penny raised her hand. “Excuse me, Mr. Demetrius.”

“Yes, Penny?”

“Jas and I will be in the crafts room for a second, marking her right and left sides so she can tell them apart. We’ll hurry.”

“No problem!”

Penny led Jas to the crafts room. “What I’ll do is put marks on your right hand and right foot. That way, you’ll know which way is right and which way is left.” She glanced around for a second upon entering the room. “Now, what do I mark with…?”

“Miss Penny!” Jas ran to the table. “How about a bracelet with a bead on it, so I can feel it thumping my hand and my foot!”

“That’s a good idea!” Penny cut two lengths of yarn and threaded a large bead on each one. She tied one bracelet around Jas’s wrist and the other around her ankle, fastening each with a simple bow. 

After another runthrough of the song, it was time for a longer break. Demetrius dismissed the dancers to the kitchen, where a basket of fruit and a plate of cheese were waiting. Maru made a beeline for the cheese.

Jodi and Caroline munched on the fruit and laughed about how hard they were breathing.

“Jodi, I thought you wouldn’t even break a sweat! You’re always working hard at dance aerobics.”

“Oh, no.” Jodi laughed. “I’m deadlifting. I pick up heavy things and I put them down again. My cardio endurance isn’t near where it should be, and I only have myself to blame for that!”

Elliott and Leah were at the sink, filling their water bottles. Elliott ran a hand through his hair. He reached in his pocket, pulled out a green ribbon, and used the ribbon to tie his hair back in a low ponytail. “While it isn’t my first choice,” he said with a soft smile, “I’m beginning to understand the rugged appeal of country and western music.”

Leah giggled. “That’s pretty much a requirement to live in the Valley!” She pulled a ponytail holder from her pocket. “Would you like something tighter for your ponytail?”

“I suppose that would be more practical…”

Leah nodded. She heard what he wasn’t saying. He wanted the ribbon.

“Tell you what. Why don’t I braid your hair, use the hair tie, and put the ribbon over it?”

“Splendid!”

Leah untied the bow in Elliott’s hair and separated it into three parts. She couldn’t help blushing when he leaned back into her hands. She quickly braided his hair in a simple plait down his back, secured it with the hair tie, then threaded the ribbon through the hair tie a couple times so it would stay. She finished the braid off with a perfect bow.

“There you go. You look wonderful.” 

“Thank you, darling.”

“Alright, dancers! Everyone refreshed? It’s partner time!”

The class filed back into the main room.

“I’m going to show you the basic steps for a waltz and the basic steps for a two-step, plus a couple spins and holds if we have time. Now, in a traditional setting, gentlemen always lead and ladies always follow. Most of the time, that’s good enough. But not here.”

Maru leaned over and whispered something to Elliott.

“It appears that we have more ladies than gentlemen in this class, based on how you’re presenting. Besides, there have always been ladies who prefer to dance with ladies, and gentlemen who prefer to dance with gentlemen, and those who will dance with whoever catches their eye. Luckily, we live in the modern-day Ferngill Republic, where this is accepted.”

Elliott whispered back to Maru.

“And that’s not even touching on the possibility of meeting a nonbinary or intersex human and wanting to dance with them!”

Maru tapped Elliott’s arm, whispered, and nodded.

“Did you know!” Demetrius smiled as he interrupted himself. “At the very least, one tenth of a percent of the population could be intersex! That number could be much higher, though, we don’t know. And that’s just assigned biological sex, which is only correct about 99% of the time! Can you imagine a periodic table of the elements where only the elements that made up 1% or more of the planet’s crust showed up? Even a table that only included elements that make up one tenth of a percent or more of the planet’s crust would be comically incomplete! And humans, with our spectrum between male and female, with transgender and genderfluid and genderqueer and nonbinary and agender and all the rest, are amateurs compared to fungi.”

Most of the dancers looked puzzled. The exception was Maru, who was holding back giggles.

“Some fungi can have up to 36,000 genders! And all of them can mate with each other, due to the unique underground fronds that fungi have…”

Maru cackled. “It’s 11:30! You owe me 10G!”

Elliott chuckled and shook his head. He reached into his pocket and handed Maru a coin.

“Maru?” Demetrius asked. “What’s this about?”

Maru laughed again. “Elliott and I made a bet! I told him that you were gonna start talking science before noon! He didn’t believe me, he thought it would be noon at the earliest.”

Demetrius facepalmed. “Well, you do have observation and pattern recognition on your side…” 

“Thanks, Dad!” Maru flipped her coin and stuck it in her pocket.

“Anyway!” Demetrius projected his voice to the class. “In order to control for social and gender-based variables, all of you are going to learn to lead, and all of you are going to learn to follow. Choose partners, please. For the most part, this is up to you, but I’d like Jas and Vincent together just because you’re about the same size.”

Most dancers partnered up quickly: Leah with Elliott, Maru with Penny, Jas with Vincent, and Jodi with Caroline. Clint and Marnie stood on opposite ends of the room, watching each other nervously.

“Clint? Marnie? Do you mind dancing with each other?”

“That’s fine,” Marnie said.

Clint fidgeted with his collar. “Sure, I can do that.”

“We’re gonna start with the two-step. Any of you who know how to foxtrot will notice that this is basically a foxtrot in reverse. Four steps: Quick, quick, slow, slow. You’ll go counterclockwise around the dance floor. I need to borrow a dancer who knows how to two-step and how to follow.”

Marnie stepped forward. 

“Ms. Marnie! Thanks!” Demetrius explained hand placement and dance frame, and took Marnie around the floor as an example.

The day continued. Elliott, Leah, Jodi, and Caroline thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Maru and Penny, who already knew how to two-step and were comfortable dancing with each other, showed off and helped the other dancers. Clint and Marnie were awkward, but after some time, learned to move together and got used to each other.

During a break, Jas cornered Vincent. “It’s not fair! You ARE a good dancer! Why weren’t you dancing good at the Luau? You could have taught me!”

“Because I didn’t know how to dance right back then! And I wanted to dance silly.”

Jas fell silent. “Oh. Yeah.” She pouted. “It’s still not fair that you’re a good dancer and I’m not. Miss Penny says you have talent.”

Vincent beamed. “Finally! I have talent at something! You’re always smarter than me and better than me at stuff! It’s fun to be good at something!”

Jas stepped back. “Wow...I guess I’m just used to everything being easy.” She sighed. “I’ll try really hard, okay? So you can dance good without me messing it up.”

“Yay!”

The waltz lesson went just like the two-step lesson, with awkwardness and knocked knees and stepped-on feet at first, followed by decent dancing as the day went on. Elliott and Leah were the experts this time, twirling around the floor like a prince and princess while everyone else was still looking at their feet. 

After pizzas from the Saloon for lunch, the dancing continued. Demetrius taught everyone some basic hip hop steps; how to pop and lock, how to toprock, how to shuffle.

“Now if you wanna get fancy, and I know some of you do, let’s throw in some B-boy moves!” Demetrius threw himself to the ground, caught himself on his hands, and ran his feet in a circle around his body.

Vincent cackled. He did the exact same thing.

Maru and Clint both tried, and both ended up tripping over their feet.

Demetrius got up, toprocked for a couple bars, then threw himself down and spun around on his back. Vincent, again, imitated him perfectly and gleefully.

“I’m not tryin’ that one, you’ll be taking my ass to the clinic…” Clint shook his head and laughed.

Maru tried it. She landed on her hands, transitioned to her back, and fell flat. She giggled as Penny helped her up.

Demetrius nodded at Vincent. He hit the deck again, balancing on his hands, feet stretched out behind him. He pushed off with one hand and held it up. With his other hand, he hopped himself around in a circle.

Vincent’s face lit up. He crouched down.

“Vincent John, don’t you even!” Jodi’s voice cut through the air.

Too late. Vincent balanced on his hands. Just like Demetrius, he pushed off with one hand. He tipped sideways and crashed on his shoulder, then rolled to his belly. 

“Vincent!” Jas ran up to her friend. “Are you okay?”

He was laughing hysterically. “I don’t know how he did that! That was so cool!”

Demetrius helped Vincent up. “You have to be strong! Do some push-ups! Do some sit-ups! It took me months to get that right, you’re gonna need a lot of practice!”

Jodi glared at both of them.

“Now, your mom is right. This is dangerous stuff, and if you don’t do it right, you could get hurt. But the only way to practice things is to do them, right?”

Vincent nodded.

“So if you’re serious about this, you absolutely must be safe. Come here to the community center so you can practice on the gymnastics mats. Practicing for a little bit each day is safer than practicing for a long time, because you don’t want to make mistakes because you’re tired. If you want to learn new moves, ask me. And no head spins until you’re quite a bit older.”

Vincent spun around and gave Demetrius finger guns in time with the music. “Yes sir!”

The actual lesson concluded, but the dance party went on. Disco flowed into ballads and line dances, and everyone got a little more practice in. Jas finally did the Cowboy Shuffle correctly--once. Elliott and Leah shared whispers and held gazes as they waltzed around the floor. Clint, in an effort to practice asking, asked Demetrius to dance. They shared a two-step, and Demetrius taught Clint some fancy moves. He then taught them to Marnie. By the time everyone finally left, the sun was going down.


	2. Kitchen Boot Camp with Gus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gus teaches Harvey, Sam, Penny, Pierre, and Shane how to cook. It goes well, except for the messes, the fire, and the medical emergency.

“Welcome to boot camp!” Gus stood on one side of the kitchen table, dressed in a chef’s uniform. “This class is designed to get you up to speed in the kitchen. It won’t make you a gourmet chef, but it will make you able to make dinner.” He took a look at the other side of the table, where Sam, Shane, Penny, Harvey, and Pierre were sitting. He spoke again, almost to himself. “Lot of guys in this class...wonder why that is?”

“Because cooking is women’s work!” Pierre said.

Gus laughed and gesticulated wildly at his outfit. “Excuse me!” 

Penny raised a finger. When Gus looked at her, she spoke. “Because through in-person and media representation, girls are socialized to expect to learn to cook, and boys aren’t.”

“Huh!” Gus pointed at Penny. “Well-said! Thank you, professor.”

Penny nodded smugly.

Gus continued. “What are your hang-ups when it comes to cooking? Think of who you are as a person…”

Shane groaned.

“Really!” Gus laughed again. “What is your biggest fear, or biggest obstacle, when it comes to cooking?”

Sam was the first to volunteer information. “I worry that I’ll forget an important step, or forget to put something in.” He chuckled. “Or I’ll just forget that I’m cooking altogether, and burn the house down.”

“Alright, we’ll learn about safety and mise en place.”

Sam continued. “There’s also the whole ordeal of, like, how do I start? I get the idea that I want to cook, but it’s just this huge effort to figure out what to do first and what to get out and how to get the motivation to get away from the computer and go to the kitchen…”

“Sam?” Harvey interrupted. He spoke quietly. “See me after class. That sounds like something I might be able to help. It’s an exhausting way to live.”

“You’re tellin’ me, bro! I mean, Doctor.”

Shane turned to Gus. “I’m just worried that I won’t be able to do it. Fear of failure, I guess.”

Penny nodded at Shane. “More like, fear of wasting perfectly good ingredients!”

Pierre shrugged. “I just never bothered to learn how to do it. But it looks fun.”

“Yes it is,” Gus said.

“I worry that I’ll get called away to an emergency and end up ruining my food,” Harvey said.

“Alright, we’ll talk about slow cookers.” Gus pulled a cutting board and a knife from the counter and set them on the table. “First of all, though, safety. Cooking can kill you. Food can kill you. I’m not joking. Harvey knows!”

Harvey nodded solemnly.

“When we cook, we deal with germs, knives, and heat. Germs are gross and they make gross things happen. So how do we prevent them from getting us sick? Keep hot foods hot, and cold foods cold. Wash your hands after you touch raw meat, your face, your hair, your phone, after you use the restroom, and whenever else you feel like you need to. Treat raw meat like a biohazard. Meat goes on the bottom shelf of the fridge. It gets its own cutting board and knife, which get washed right away. Test it with a meat thermometer. Better safe than sorry.”

Sam raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Sam!”

“How hot does it need to be?”

“Depends on the meat. It’ll usually say in the recipe. There are meat thermometers with the correct temperatures printed on them, too.”

Sam nodded and gave Gus a thumbs-up.

“Next: Knives!” Gus held up a chef’s knife. “Keep them sharp. A sharp knife does what you want it to do. A dull knife does what it wants to do. Dull knives are responsible for more accidental cuts than sharp knives. Also! A falling knife has no handle.”

“Huh?” Shane raised an eyebrow at Gus.

“If you drop a knife, do not try to catch it. You will catch it by the blade, and then you will have a bad time. In fact, so it doesn’t poke your foot on the way down, jump back from it.” Gus haphazardly knocked his knife off the table and jumped back to demonstrate. “Yeah, I gotta wash this thing now, but I still have all the fingers and toes required to do so. Speaking of washing, do not put knives in soapy water!”

“Oh yeah!” Sam interrupted. “One time Vincent put a knife in the sink, and my mom grabbed it and cut her hand really bad! She needed stitches!”

“I remember that,” Harvey said. “She had to go to the hand center at Grampleton to get that fixed up.”

“You can’t stitch hands?” Pierre asked.

“I can stitch a hand well enough to save a life, but not well enough to save functionality.” Harvey cringed. “They’re persnickety, complicated little things. It’s better to leave that to the experts.”

“Now let’s talk about heat!” Gus reached under the kitchen sink and pulled out a fire extinguisher. “Pelican Town does not have a fire department. We’re covered by Stardew County Fire, but they’re based in Grampleton...and that’s really far away when your kitchen’s on fire. So. Always have a fire extinguisher. Know where it is. Know how to use it.” He passed the fire extinguisher around while explaining exactly how to use it, and the importance of not putting water on grease fires. Sam pretended to shoot it at Shane. Shane took it and pretended to knock Sam over the head with it.

“I’ll be harping on safety throughout the day, as we cook. Let’s start with breakfast. Shane, do you have the eggs?”

“Yes I do, courtesy of Charlie, Bluebell, Sapphire, and Runt.” Shane pulled a bag out from under his chair and pulled out a carton. The carton was filled with 18 large, beautiful eggs: White, brown, blue, and speckled.

“Scrambling up some eggs is a good way to start breakfast. You can add hashbrowns, pancakes, and milk for a Complete Breakfast. You can cut up a melon or some strawberries if you want something lighter. You can put ‘em in a tortilla with eggs and potatoes and chili for a breakfast burrito, throw ‘em on some hash browns and veggies for a skillet...they’re versatile.”

Gus was interrupted by the sound of a stomach growling. He laughed.

“Apparently, you’re hungry. So let’s just get right down to it. How many of you know how to crack eggs?”

Shane, Penny, and Harvey raised their hands. Sam’s face fell into a blank stare. Pierre chuckled.

“Alright, no problem. The important thing here is to apply the correct amount of force, which can only be felt out by actually doing the thing. So, here are extra mixing bowls for you guys.” He gave Sam and Pierre each an extra bowl, along with three eggs. “What you’ll want to do is bonk the egg against a flat surface. Try to get right in the middle of the egg. If you hit it hard enough, you should--”

Sam, in an attempt to crack his egg, tapped it on the table. 

Pierre laughed again. He slammed his egg down, flattening it into a half dome, spreading shell and egg white all over the table. Harvey and Penny scooted away from the mess.

“--not do either of those things,” Gus said dryly. “First of all, you need to wash your hands. Secondly, too little force means you’ll be using your hands to break the egg open, which risks introducing bacteria from either your hands or the eggshell into the egg. Thirdly, don’t haul off and slam the thing or else it’ll explode.” He tossed Pierre a towel. “Clean that up. Egg goes in the trash, towel goes in the laundry basket.”

Pierre caught the towel. Now it was his turn to stare blankly. 

Penny cringed and reached for the towel.

“Don’t do it, Ms. Penny!” Gus turned to Pierre. “Wipe the whole dang thing up, egg and all, and catch it in your towel.” He mimicked wiping the table as he explained. “Then shake the towel out in the trash can, toss it in the laundry, and wash your hands.”

Pierre did as he was told, wrinkling his nose and grimacing the whole time.

The day went on. Eggs were scrambled, to various degrees of success. Veggies were chopped for salads, and nobody was injured. Blackberry vinaigrettes were mixed up, though Sam’s was much more vinaigrette than blackberry because he kept eating the berries. The pumpkin soup was a little more difficult and messy, but it got done, and everyone’s soup was edible.

“Alright. Everyone’s leftovers packed up?” Gus surveyed the room. “Good. Label them and put them in the fridge, please, then head to the sink and wash your hands while I explain dinner.”

The students milled around the refrigerator and the sink as Gus talked.

“Next up, we’re cooking Crispy Bass and Roots Platter. Why? Because we need to practice using the oven, breading things, frying, checking fish for doneness, timing, and knife work. Sam, this will be a good one for you. You’ll need to set plenty of timers so you don’t forget stuff in the oven. We’ll start by breading the fish. In order to do that, we’ll need to crack some more eggs to stick the coating on…”

Gus walked the students through setting up their breading with flour and bread crumbs, coating the fish, and dropping it into the hot oil in the pan. 

Sam, watching his fish, waved Gus over. “So, Mr. Gus, you told us that there are five tastes: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory. And spicy isn’t exactly a taste, it’s just pain, only good. So what’s it called when your mouth itches after you eat apples?”

“What?”

“You know, like, you eat an apple, and then your mouth itches and feels all tingly!”

Harvey flipped his fish over. “I believe that’s called oral allergy syndrome, actually. You have quite the pollen allergy, so some raw fruits and veggies might make your mouth itch. Just leave the apples out of your salads, along with any veggies that you discover that have that effect, and you should be fine.”

“Okay, but...why.”

“So the allergy doesn’t get worse.”

“No, I mean, like, why does being allergic to flowers mean I’m also a little allergic to raw apples? That makes no sense.” Sam turned to Harvey and folded his arms.

“Well, allergies themselves are the immune system erring on the side of caution.” Harvey scooted his fish around in the pan. “And oral allergy syndrome happens when the immune system can’t tell the difference between, say, the proteins in birch pollen, and the proteins in an apple. The immune system says, hey, that looks kinda like the guy we fought with last week, let’s get him!”

“So basically my immune system is dumb.” Sam laughed. He scratched the back of his hand.

“To be fair, single-celled organisms don’t have much room for brains.”

“Well then how do they know that they’re supposed to kill viruses and stuff?”

Harvey lifted his fish out of the pan. It broke in half as he set it down on the plate. “Darn. That looked so good, too.” He turned back to Sam. “Our own body’s cells have little tags on them, like ID badges. The cells of the immune system look for those badges. If someone doesn’t have a badge, they get attacked.”

“Huh.” Sam scratched his head. “So, then, why do normal food proteins get a pass?”

“Think of a security guard at the door. They tell all the foods that they can go ahead and be in your body. But the raw apple proteins look a little too much like that sketchy pollen guy who was in there the other day, and they don’t like that, so they radio their colleagues and tell them to…” Harvey glanced over Sam’s shoulder. “Changing the subject, please don’t panic. Turn off your burner and put the lid on your pan.”

“How come? I thought we were cooking this uncovered?”

Just then, the fire alarm rang out.

“Dammit!” Sam turned back to his stove. His fish was smoking heavily. As he reached for the burner, the fish caught on fire. Sam screamed and jumped back.

Penny calmly scooted him out of the way. She put the lid on his pan, turned the burner off, and moved the pan away from the heat.

“Yoba!” Sam smacked his forehead. “I forgot to set timers! Why am I like this?!”

“I have my suspicions,” Harvey said. “Seriously, meet with me after class.”

“Are you gonna diagnose me with stupid?”

“No, sir. I think I can help you. For now, would you like to split my bass fillet? Our Roots Platters should be done at about the same time, which should be in 10 minutes.”

“Rad! Thanks!” Sam turned on an egg timer near his stove, then tuned to Gus. “Hey Mr. Gus, where do I put this ruined fish?”

“In the trash.”

“Okay...sorry about that.” Sam picked up the still-covered pan.

“It’s fine. If you’re gonna mess up, this is the place to do it.” Gus shrugged.

“Heck yeah, I have Penny here to save my ass!”

“You’ve saved mine a few times, too,” Penny said. “That’s what friends are for.”

Pierre wolf-whistled from across the room. “Wow, Penny, your fish looks good! You’ve got some talent!”

“Thanks,” she said, “but the thing is, I actually don’t. I understand that I’m a beginner, and follow Mr. Gus’s instructions exactly.”

Gus nodded. “You kinda remind me of Emily that way, Penny. When she started at the Saloon, she couldn’t cook, couldn’t serve, couldn’t tend bar...but she was willing to learn, and that made all the difference in the world.”

Pierre spoke up again. “Wow, Shane, what’s wrong with your fish?” He laughed.

Shane looked at his plate. The fish fillet sat on the plate, mostly uncovered, as the breading had slid off. He shrugged.

Pierre took his own fish out of the pan. Like Shane’s, the coating slid off his fish too.

“Oil temperature was too low,” Gus said plainly. “Neither of you used your thermometers. There are some things you can eyeball, but I don’t take my chances with oil temperatures.”

“Caroline’s able to tell just by looking at it.” Pierre folded his arms.

“Yeah, she’s probably been pan-frying for decades. She knows her equipment, she knows her recipes, she knows exactly how long it takes to get to temperature. I use deep-fryers at the Saloon, which have thermometers. I cook more at work than I do at home--and I use the Saloon’s kitchen for my own food--so when I pan-fry, I use a thermometer. No shame in double-checking.” Gus gave Pierre a pointed look. “Besides, she’s got way more experience than you do in the kitchen. You should thank her for that.”

The egg timer went off. Sam and Harvey got their Roots Platters from the ovens, both marveling at how good they smelled.

Sam took off his oven mitts and scratched his hand again. 

Harvey took a closer look. “Sam? How long have you had those bumps on your hand?”

Sam gave him a blank look. “Uh….”

“Hours, days, weeks?”

“Well, they weren’t there this morning.” He thought about it some more. “And I didn’t notice them when I washed my hands after lunch.”

“Alright, we’re done here! Come with me.” Harvey took off his oven mitts. “Mr. Gus, Sam and I are going to the clinic, he’s having an allergic reaction. I’ll be back to clean up later.”

“We can’t even eat our food?”

Gus grabbed a couple of plastic containers and waved them at Sam. “It’ll be in the fridge waiting for you when you’re done.”

As Sam and Harvey walked down the path, Sam scratched his hands and his arms. “So are the stupid and the allergies related?”

“I’m not going to diagnose you with stupid!” Harvey laughed. “Based on what I’ve seen, you’re showing some symptoms that could be ADHD, and I have some tests and some colleagues who can help you get a diagnosis and work around it. But my main concern right now is the allergy.”

“Huh. Okay. Can’t you just give me meds?”

“For the allergy? Yes. That’s what’s about to happen. I’m going to give you some IV medication that will stop the reaction.”

“No, for the ADHD.”

“I could, but it would be highly unethical to just throw medication at your brain without going through all the proper steps of diagnosis. What if I’m wrong? Besides, if you see a counselor, you’ll be able to learn some tricks to make your life easier. It’ll be up to you to actually do the work, which will then teach your brain how to deal with itself.”

Back at the Community Center, Gus and the students were finishing up their meals. They’d plated small portions to taste, and packed the rest in containers.

“Would you like some drinks with your dinner? Now that class is over, I could pour you some wine!” Gus pulled a bottle of farm-fresh Stardew Valley white from the fridge.

“Yes, please!” Pierre said.

“Sure.” Shane shrugged.

“I’ll just have water, please.” Penny gave Gus a polite smile.

“Oh, come on!” Pierre laughed. “Live a little!”

Penny gave him a nervous glance.

“One drink’s not gonna hurt you!”

“Maybe not, but I still don’t want it.”

“Have you ever even had wine?” Pierre asked.

“No.”

“Come on, Gus, give her a taste! Penny, you might like it.”

Gus poured glasses of wine for himself, Shane, and Pierre, and held up an empty glass for Penny. “Ms. Penny, would you like a taste?”

“No, sir.” Again, she smiled politely.

“That settles that.” Gus put the wine glass away, and gave Penny a glass of ice water.

“How do you know you don’t like it if you won’t even try it?” Pierre asked. He slid his glass over to Penny. “Come on, take a sip.”

“Oh, for Yoba’s sake, Pierre!” Gus scooted Pierre’s wine glass back to him. “This isn’t high school! Ms. Penny will drink what she wants. She has her reasons.”

“Well, what are they?”

“Only Yoba has the Knowing Wisdom,” Gus said. “If Ms. Penny feels like telling you her reasons, she’ll tell you. If she doesn’t want to tell you, you’ll just have to accept that.”

Pierre pouted.

Gus pointedly ignored him and turned to Shane. “So! Mr. Shane, what was your favorite thing to make today?”

“Salad. Having to focus so hard on the knife work kind of took me out of my own head.”

“Nice! I have a recipe for ratatouille that involves a bunch of thin-sliced veggies. I’ll send it to you.” He turned to Penny. “Ms. Penny, what was your favorite dish?”

Penny covered her mouth, which was full of food. She pointed at the Roots Platter.

Shane nodded. “I liked that one, too.”

Penny swallowed. “It’s one of my favorites to eat! And it’s so inexpensive, too.”

“It’s amazing what good, simple ingredients can do, isn’t it?” Gus asked.

Penny nodded and took another bite.

“Mr. Pierre? What was your favorite?”

“Scrambled eggs, I think I did the best job with those.”

“I think you did too, yours were delicious!” Gus gave him a thumbs up.

Later that evening, there was a knock on the clinic door. Harvey opened the door to find Penny carrying two large bags.

“Hi, come on in!”

“Thanks. I have your food. The Roots Platters turned out really well! And apparently, your fish was one of the best of the bunch.”

Harvey beamed. “I’m glad! Do you have Sam’s food, too?”

“Yes I do.”

“Well, he’s here.”

“Still?!” Penny glanced over Harvey’s shoulder, trying to get a look into the clinic. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine.” Harvey smiled. “I gave him an antihistamine to stop the allergic reaction. It knocked him out, as antihistamines tend to do, so he’s been napping for the past few hours.”

“Oh, good.” Penny set both bags on the counter. “This is yours,” she said, sliding one bag toward Harvey. “The other one is for Sam.”

“Alright. Sam’s back in the inpatient area, you’re welcome to say hello if he’s awake.”

Harvey took his food and headed up the stairs. Penny walked back to the inpatient area. 

“What’s up, Sensei?” Sam rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up.

“I brought your food. The Roots Platters tasted great!”

“Nice. How was the rest of class?” He yawned.

Penny rolled her eyes. “Pierre was being obnoxious.” She sighed. “Gus offered wine with dinner, and I said I didn’t want any. He kept trying to pressure me into drinking it. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer!”

“Rude. Want me to mail him a photocopy of my butt?”

Penny laughed.

“Seriously, there’s a copier at the library, I could do it!”

“No, I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I could mail him a snail.”

“Yeah, but that might hurt the snail…”

“Dude!” Sam laughed. “See, this is why you’re cool. Never wanting anyone to suffer.”

“Thanks. I wouldn’t mind Pierre getting a little annoyed, but nobody should get hurt, and I don’t want anyone to get in trouble either.”

“I know! I’ll send him a big package. Make it look all fancy. Except I’ll fill it with rocks and trash!” Sam giggled. “I’ll wait until he’s not expecting it.” 

Harvey walked into the inpatient area. “Good morning, Sam! You’re finally awake.”

“Wait, it’s not actually morning, is it?”

“No, it’s about 8:00pm. You’ve been sleeping since 3:00, which is to be expected with the medication I gave you. After we set up some follow-up appointments, I’ll take you home in the golf cart.”

“Rad, can I drive?”

“Absolutely not!” Harvey laughed. “But I’ll show you how fast it can go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like to cook and I'm not great at it, so this took me quite a bit of research. Writing about cooking is much more fun than actual cooking, btw.


	3. Emily's Impromptu Quilting Bee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily's sewing machine is broken, and she has a quilt to finish before the Feast of the Winter Star. She sets up in the Community Center's Crafts room, and lets whoever wanders in design a quilt block of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, an answer to the question: WTF, Emily and Haley's parents?

“I don’t know where you get the patience to do this, Emily.” Haley boredly flipped through the piles of fabric on the table by the sewing machine.

“Me neither, honestly. Sewing itself is such a time-consuming, meditative process. Maybe that’s what I like about it. And quilting is just so persnickety! The intense focus I need to get everything right helps to calm down my mind when it’s always racing.”

“Huh. Whenever I need to calm down, I just take photos. It’s so much easier. Gets me to look for things worth taking pictures of, too.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Appreciation is a wonderful mental exercise. Hey, what kind of quilt block would you like me to make for you?”

“I dunno, a sunflower?”

Emily slid a square piece of paper over to her sister. “Here, sketch it out and pick the fabrics.”

“Okay. I don’t wanna make it anything too complicated, because I don’t want to make you spend hours and hours on it…” She took the paper and quickly sketched out a simple sunflower. “Can I do, like, patterned fabrics for the black and yellow? And this blue with clouds for the background?”

“Yes! Please! That would look so cute!”

“Awesome.” Haley rummaged through the fabric.

From outside the room, Emily and Haley heard Evelyn and George.

“Dear, someone’s running a sewing machine in the Crafts Room. Can we check it out?” Evelyn sounded thrilled.

“Yeah, whatever. I don’t know how you can hear that.”

Evelyn grabbed George’s shoulder. “And I don’t know how you can see your way in. You be the eyes, I’ll be the ears.”

“Put together, we’re almost a decent person!” George laughed sardonically.

“Oh, we’re good! We’re very good. We just don’t have a lot of working parts between us.” Evelyn chuckled.

“Hi Mr. Mullner, hi Granny!” Emily turned around and waved.

“What’s going on here?” George asked.

Emily took her hands off the sewing machine, facing George head on. “I’m making a quilt for our parents. I have three squares done already, so hopefully I’ll be able to get it to them by Winter Star time.”

“Oh! Quilting!” Evelyn squealed. “I used to love doing that before my vision went!”

“I remember!” Emily laughed. “I still have a quilt that you made for our parents! I sleep with it every night in the winter.”

“Yes! Moonbeam and Sage loved the quilt I made for them, I’m glad it’s still getting some use.”

“I’m just glad they gave you two normal names!” George laughed again.

Emily nodded. “You know, their given names are Sarah and David. Those names just didn’t fit them. They told us that we can change our names to anything we want...giving someone a name is really just guessing at what they’d like as their very first gift, you know? But I want my name to be the least interesting thing about me, and Haley...is a Haley.”

“That’s one way to put it,” George said.

Evelyn had busied herself looking through the fabrics, feeling them between her fingers. Haley, knowing she couldn’t see them well, was narrating.

“That one’s red with strawberries,” she said. “That one’s black with gray polka dots. I’m gonna use that for my quilt block. Okay, now, that one’s purple and kinda...wavy patterned? It almost looks like tie dye.”

“Oh, I’d love to make a block of my own,” Evelyn said.

“Go for it!” Emily turned back to her. “I know you can’t see well, but if you’ll describe what you want and pick some fabrics, I’ll make it for you and put your name on it.”

“That would be delightful! I know exactly what I’d like, too. Can you please make me a traditional rosebud block with dark green and light purple, like a fairy rose? I’d like the background to be pink, please.”

“Yes, that would be awesome!” Emily jotted down some notes on a square piece of paper. She flipped it over and took out a pen, then drew the rosebud pattern and labeled the colors. “Consider it done!”

“Why ya doin’ it here, anyway?” George asked. “Don’t you have a sewing machine at home?”

“I do...and it’s broken. Maru’s fixing it, so I’m working out of here for the next little while.”

“I’m so glad this place is fixed up,” Evelyn said. “Have you tried the spinning wheel?”

“I have! It’s awesome!”

“I used to use that thing to spin alpaca yarn, back when Marnie’s mother still had those alpacas. This place brings back so many good memories…”

Emily went back to her work. Evelyn and George left the crafts room and wandered over to the pantry, where they donated the bag of canned veggies hanging off the back of George’s wheelchair.

After she finished sketching her quilt block and selecting the fabrics for it, Haley wandered off. As Emily turned Haley’s sketch into a proper pattern and started cutting fabric, Sebastian knocked on the crafts room doorway.

“Yes, Sebastian?” Emily turned around. “You can come in, this room is open for everyone.”

He shrugged. “Is anyone using the computer?”

“Not right now.”

“Good.” He walked in and sat down at the old PC next to the sewing table. “Mayor asked me to update the security policy and the firewall, now that Penny’s taking the kids in here for computer lessons.”

“That makes sense.”

For a few minutes, they both worked in silence. As Emily began to pin the quilt block together, she saw Sebastian glance over.

“I’m making a quilt for my parents,” she told him. “I’m hoping to have it done for the Feast of the Winter Star.”

“It’ll take that long?”

“Oh, yeah! It might even take longer!” Emily laughed. “All the cutting and pinning for each square takes forever, and then I have to join them all together.”

“Okay, I could see that. Are all the squares different? Or are they like tiles or pixels?”

“Each square is different. There will be about 100 squares total. I’m making squares that will remind them of Stardew Valley, Pelican Town, the people they know here...Granny Evelyn just suggested a quilt block for me to make, it’s a rosebud pattern...very traditional, colored like a fairy rose. Haley sketched one out, too. That’s what I’m working on now, it’s a sunflower. It’s more freeform, it has curved lines and everything.”

“Huh.” Sebastian idly flipped through the pile of fabric. “Got a Winter Star one?”

“Yep, that’ll be the centerpiece, about nine times as big as the others.”

“Spirit’s Eve?” 

“Yep!” She lifted up a few quilt squares stacked off to the side. “I actually have two, a Jack O’Lantern and a cauldron.”

“Got any seagulls?”

“Yes I do.”

“Any actual pelicans?”

Emily laughed. “No! There aren’t any pelicans here!”

Sebastian chuckled. “Okay, yeah. What about a frog?” 

“Actually...no.” Emily’s face lit up. “I don’t have any frogs yet!” She set her work aside, grabbed Evelyn’s paper, flipped it over, and wrote “Frog.”

“Nice. Gotta make sure the little guys get some recognition.” He shrugged again. 

“Every creature on the planet is valuable, like cells in a human body,” Emily said. 

“Yeah, except the other creatures are sustaining the planet and we’re destroying it.” He smirked. “We’re kinda like cancer that way.”

“Unlike cancer cells, though, we can learn and we can teach. We can agitate our more malignant fellow cells and make them stop being so destructive.”

“That’s an optimistic outlook.” Sebastian’s voice was flat.

“It’s something I have to believe,” Emily said. “Maybe hope is part of the planet’s immune system.”

Sebastian pressed his lips together to hold back a smart remark. He turned back to the computer and clicked around for a few seconds. More to himself than to Emily, he spoke. “If hope is the equivalent of a chemical message, the information, then maybe the humans who raise hell are the white blood cells…”

“...trying to minimize the damage that the other humans are doing! That’s a good way to look at it, Sebastian! Even people who try their hardest to strip this planet bare are only doing what a growing cell does. They’re trying to live and thrive and ensure success for others of their kind.” She let out a small sigh. “Unfortunately, they don’t realize that ‘their kind’ includes all humans. All sapient beings. All sentient beings. All life.”

“Even mosquitoes?”

“They have their place.” Emily put a couple small pieces of fabric under the sewing machine’s foot.

“Frog food.” Sebastian chuckled.

“You laugh, but that’s spot on!” She pressed the pedal and the sewing machine whirred to life. 

Sebastian was able to finish his computer work in just a few minutes. He selected a deep olive green for the frog and a murky gray for the background of his quilt block, and set them aside for Emily.

He silently left the crafts room. At the door, he turned around. “Um, Emily?”

“Yeah?”

“If you want to make a quilt block with a constellation on it, I bet Maru would help you.”

“That’s a good idea! I took my sewing machine to her to get it fixed but didn’t have much time to chat with her, how’s she doing?”

“Alright.” He paused. “She’s been spending a lot of time with Penny lately. I’m guessing Penny’s a good influence, because Maru’s been less of a brat lately. I think she’ll eventually grow up to be an okay person. Don’t tell her I said that.”

Emily laughed. “Having a little sister is hard, isn’t it?”

“Yep.” Again, he paused awkwardly. “Um. Thanks for putting a frog on your quilt. See ya later.”

Emily worked alone for nearly an hour. She finished Haley’s quilt block and was working on Evelyn’s rosebud when Marnie walked in. Emily heard her open the refrigerator in the kitchen. A couple seconds later, it closed. 

“Emily?”

“Hi, Ms. Marnie! Come on in!”

“Sure! I was just dropping off some extra eggs. There were no more left in there...I’m glad someone got some good use out of them.” Marnie sat down on the couch by the table. “What are you doing here?”

“My sewing machine’s broken, Maru’s fixing it. So I’m using the sewing machine here to work on a quilt for my parents. It’s going to be a Winter Star gift, with all kinds of reminders of the Valley…a few villagers have suggested some quilt blocks for me to make, too.”

“Oh! Make a basket! A basket full of summer spangles would be such a wonderful reminder of the Valley! They grow so well here, don’t they?”

“You know, I don’t have any basket blocks yet, and I need at least one! It’s such a common motif here in this region, I have to throw it in! Pick out some fabrics you like, I’ll make sure they’re part of the finished block.” Emily once again grabbed her scratch paper. Under “Frog,” she wrote “Basket!! Full of spangles, maybe some flag-colored ribbons? Eggs or hay in the background?”

As Marnie looked through the fabrics, she leaned in toward Emily. Her voice was low, but tinged with excitement. “You know, I think someone in town has taken a liking to me!” She giggled.

“Do you like them, too?”

Marnie’s eyes widened. “That...wow. That’s something I hadn’t thought too much about, I’ve just been so wrapped up with my other romantic problems…”

Emily gave her a soft smile. “Oh. Right. Lewis. Open your heart and your mind, Ms. Marnie. You deserve people in your life who genuinely want you around, and would be proud to tell the town and the world that you’re a part of their life.”

Marnie sighed. “Well, I know Lewis genuinely wants me around...sometimes. But whenever I ask him to make our relationship more public, he says it would undermine his authority.”

“Have you ever lost faith in someone’s ability to lead because they had a romantic partner? I mean, only the one romantic partner, not like the President’s affair.”

Marnie laughed and shook her head. “Nope.”

“I think you know Lewis’s real motivations, Marnie. He’s no good for you. Keep your mind open and some interesting things might take root.” 

Marnie nodded. “Hmm. It’s something to think about.” She grabbed a pile of fat quarters and leaned back on the couch. “So, are you seeing anyone?”

“Sandy!” Emily didn’t hesitate. “She’s wonderful. It’s so hard to be patient, she’s pretty much stuck in the desert for now and I just want to run away with her! But we see each other whenever we can, and we talk every day.”

“What do your parents think?”

“I haven’t told them yet.”

Marnie’s face fell. “Why not?”

Emily giggled. “They’re backpacking through the Stone Mountains! It’ll be at least a month before they get to an address where I can even send them mail! Believe me, I’m chomping at the bit to tell them...they remember Sandy from when we were little kids!”

“Ah!” Now it was Marnie’s turn to laugh. “You had me worried, with what you said about wanting to tell people...I was hoping you weren’t keeping her a secret!”

“Absolutely not!” Emily smiled brightly. 

“Either that, or they wouldn’t accept her...either answer would have been sad.”

“My parents are free spirits. The only things they don’t accept are hatred,” she said, as her mouth curled up in a shrewd smile, “and responsibility.”

Marnie started to laugh, then slapped a hand over her mouth.

“It’s okay, it’s funny now!” Emily reassured her. “They tried their best, and they knew we needed more structure than they could give us. That’s why they stayed in Pelican Town for as long as they did, when they owned the gallery. They knew that Granny Evelyn and Mr. Mullner and Clara and your parents and Jodi and Gus and Mr. Lewis and the old farmer would keep an eye on us. And that was when the school bus was still running, so we got some routine and education there, too.”

“You know, they say it takes a village to raise a child. I’m glad you two ended up in Pelican Town.” Marnie set aside a piece of brown paisley fabric.

“Thanks, me too.” Emily pinned a couple pieces of fabric together. “I can’t imagine living in Zuzu City, or even Grampleton, with the kind of…” She looked up, as if to search her brain for the right words. “...benign neglect, I guess? I can’t imagine trying to grow up somewhere more isolated with that going on. I’m just glad I was able to just run next door to Ms. Jodi when Haley was sick, and ask you for help with homework, and learn manners from Granny Evelyn.”

“If you don’t mind me asking...how did they keep the gallery running for as long as they did?”

Emily ran the pinned fabric through the sewing machine. She spoke loudly to be heard over the motor. “Their art pieces weren’t the only psychedelics they were selling.”

Again, Marnie giggled nervously, then covered her mouth.

“You didn’t know?”

“No! You know I don’t do stuff like that!”

“Huh. I thought it was more of an open secret, that everyone knew about it. Pelican Town doesn’t really have police oversight, the mayors always looked the other way, and nobody seemed to care that the gallery only actually sold three pieces of art the whole time it was open.”

“Who did they sell the...other stuff...to?”

Emily shrugged. “They never let me work there. But a lot of out-of-towners came to Pelican Town specifically for the gallery, and I know Pierre was absolutely crestfallen when they closed down.”

“Why did they shut down?”

“Honestly, I think my parents just got bored.” Emily shrugged again. “They stayed in Pelican Town for nine years, which was the longest they’d stayed anywhere in their adult lives. As soon as they realized I was old enough to take care of Haley, and was basically taking care of Haley every day anyway, they sold the gallery building to Clint’s dad and took off.” She sighed. “I resented them for a long time because of that. I was a high school student when they left, I should have had the chance to do more living and exploring, and less raising my little sister. But as time went on and we started relating to each other as adults, rather than parents and children, I understood their point of view. They had me when they were very young and naive, and Haley was a happy surprise that they weren’t prepared for at all. The reality of having children is different from the fantasy of it. So much of raising a child is…”

“Mundane?” Marnie volunteered.

“Exactly! You can have the grandest, most epic ideas about child rearing in the world, and there will still be days when you’re looking for a fifth grader’s lost permission slip or trying to figure out what to have for dinner after the kid decided they don’t like whatever you’d planned on making.”

“Yes! Or they let a goat loose in the house, or you’re cleaning up glitter, or you’re cancelling a vacation because they’re sick...it’s not all magic moments.” Marnie shook her head.

“It’s very few magic moments! Honestly, you’re right, it is mundane. It’s tedious.” Emily ran another couple pieces of fabric through the sewing machine. “Having raised Haley for the last few years of her childhood, I get it. I know why a couple of free spirits who love to travel and follow their hearts wouldn’t want to raise a kid. I understand their point of view...but I still don’t like it.” She pinned another piece of fabric in place. “Jas is very lucky to have you, Ms. Marnie. I know you didn’t want kids…”

“Thank you. And you’re right, I didn’t. I just kind of inherited Jas. I don’t know how to relate to kids, Emily. I don’t like playing tea party or reading bedtime stories or helping with homework. I’m just glad Shane’s around to help, both with the chickens and the kid. He loves her so much, and especially lately, he’s really started to take on the work of parenting.” Marnie set aside a deep orange block of fabric. “Here, use this for the spangles in the basket.” 

The day went on. Emily finished four quilt blocks before her shift at the Saloon. Marnie left feeling better than she did when she came in. By the time the Feast of the Winter Star rolled around, Moonbeam and Sage would have reminders of not just Pelican Town, but of Emily and Haley, Evelyn, Marnie, Sebastian, and Maru.


	4. Pumpkin Carving for Spirit's Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In preparation for Spirit's Eve, Abigail has filled the Crafts Room with pumpkins and put out an open invitation to make jack-o-lanterns. Alex tries to make friends with Sebastian, Jodi and Kent score some free food, and a few villagers stretch their creativity and skill to the limit.

Fall was nearing an end. The Spirit’s Eve festival was only a day away, and Abigail had posted a notice on the bulletin board that some pumpkins needed carving at the Community Center. She set up a big table with newspapers and trash cans for messes, knives, paint, ribbons, and stencils, and silently got to work on her own jack-o-lantern, hoping at least a couple people would show up to help.

She was up to her elbows in pumpkin guts when Alex walked in. “What’s up, Abigail! It’s freezing out there!”

“Hey, Alex! Grab a pumpkin and get to work!” She pulled a spoonful of pumpkin guts out of her pumpkin and shook them into the trash can with a laugh. “You’re right about the weather, I had to wear a heavy coat today. I guess fall really is almost over…”

“Unfortunately. At least I can still watch gridball in the winter.” Alex grabbed a small, round pumpkin, a stark contrast to Abigail’s huge jack-o-lantern. “Check it out, I’m gonna carve a little gridball helmet with a ghost on it!”

Abigail giggled. “Okay!”

“You know, there’s some weird people living in this town.” Alex used a paring knife to cut the top off his pumpkin. “Like that Sebastian guy. Why does he wear black all the time? I don’t get it.”

“Well, why do you wear your letter jacket and Tunnelers t-shirts all the time?”

“I wanna show people what I’m into! And what kind of guy I am!”

“Well, there you go. Sebastian wants to show people the same thing.”

“But...all black. It’s just so...dark.”

Abigail shrugged. “His brain goes to some dark places sometimes.” She grabbed a skull stencil and taped it on her pumpkin, then started drawing inside the lines. “He gets lonely.”

“Well, maybe if he wouldn’t look so menacing, and, like, talk to people…like, I get lonely and want friends, too, so I try to be all friendly and approachable!”

Without looking up, Abigail spoke. “You know, I think you two are more alike than you think. You both want connection. You both want friends. You try to show people that you’re friendly, but Sebastian gets shy and really anxious around people. Talking to people he doesn’t know well literally scares him. So he does what he can to avoid most interactions. He hopes that by dressing in black and not talking to people, only the people who really want to get to know him will try, and everyone else will leave him alone.”

“Oh.” Alex gave Abigail a concerned look. “I thought he was just trying to look like a badass and impress people.” He grabbed a spoon and started shoveling out his pumpkin. Again, he looked at Abigail. “Dang, he really gets scared? Poor guy!”

Just then, Kent and Jodi walked in. 

“Hello, Ms. Abigail!” Jodi waved.

“Hi, Ms. Jodi! Hi, Mr. Kent, it’s good to see you here!”

Kent shrugged. “Pumpkins aren’t gonna carve themselves.”

Jodi saw the ribbons and squealed with delight. “Emily! Can we just put ribbons and little plastic spiders or googly eyes on the pumpkins, then take them home after the festival?”

“Yes you may!”

“Oh, perfect!” She turned to Kent. “Don’t carve your pumpkin, honey, I can use it for soup or pie. Or pumpkin pancakes!”

“Hey, now that’s a good idea,” he said. “Can I use tape? I’ll tape some ribbon to mine like a bunch of crazy hair, then put some googly eyes on it so it looks like a shaggy monster.”

“Oh, that’ll be so fun! And tape should be fine,” Jodi said. “I’ll scrub the pumpkins before I use them, I just don’t want holes in them or paint on them.”

“Ms. Jodi,” Abigail said, “Did you say pumpkin pancakes? Because that sounds amazing!”

“Yes I did!” Jodi giggled. She grabbed a big pumpkin and a few lengths of ribbon. “I swap out some of the sugar and some of the wet ingredients for pumpkin. I also add in some of the pumpkin pie spices...you know, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, cloves...I have the recipe at home, I can bring it to the store next time I go shopping.”

“Awesome, thanks!” Abigail took the stencil off her pumpkin. “I’ll admit, cooking isn’t my favorite thing, but I do like eating…”

As they chatted, Pam and Penny walked in. Penny chose the smallest pumpkin and began painting, while Pam flipped through the pile of stencils.

“Penny, honey, do you think I should do a scary pumpkin or a cute one?”

Penny giggled. “Mom, you know I’m going to say a cute one. I’m making a cute little ghost out of this pumpkin, rosy cheeks and everything!”

Pam rolled her eyes and laughed. “Awww, how precious!” She picked up a stencil for a jack-o-lantern with a small, round mouth. “Hey, I wonder if I could get this thing to keep a beer bottle in it, so it looks like it’s drinkin’.

This time, it was Penny’s turn to roll her eyes. “Mom, there will be kids at the festival…”

“I’ll have someone stick it in the haunted maze. Hah!”

“You know, Ms. Pam,” Abigail said, making her way over to Pam and Penny, “a couple years ago, Sebastian made a cannibal pumpkin eating a smaller pumpkin.”

Pam laughed.

Abigail drew what looked like a cross-section of the wall of a pumpkin right on the newspaper covering the table. “It took him a couple tries to keep the smaller pumpkin in, but he learned that if he carved the bigger pumpkin’s mouth on an angle like this, it would hold the smaller one in place.” She drew a cut at a deep angle. “If you’re going to make a pumpkin hold a bottle, going in at an angle would probably be the best way to do it. I just hope a bottle won’t be too heavy…”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that, it’ll be empty!” Pam laughed again. Penny cringed.

Robin and Sebastian made their way to the table.

“Hi, Abigail!” Robin waved. She immediately grabbed the biggest pumpkin she could find. It was pale, elongated, and downright ugly. She looked delighted.

“Hey, Ms. Robin.” Alex waved. He saw Sebastian and gave him a warm smile. “Hey, Sebastian! How’s it going?”

Sebastian shrugged. “Mom said Abigail needed help with pumpkins. I wasn’t expecting a crowd…”

Alex’s voice was high pitched, in perhaps too strong of an attempt to be reassuring. “It’s all chill, bro, we’re nice!”

Sebastian stepped back. “Yeah, I know, I’m not trying to be rude, but…” His voice trailed off. 

“So, how’s work going?” Alex asked. “You do websites, right?”

“Programming.” Sebastian stuck his hands in the oversized front pocket of his hoodie. “I’m writing some new software for the point of sale at Marnie’s ranch right now.”

“The what?”

“The point of sale...you know, the cash register.”

“OH!” Alex laughed and shook his head. “Yoba, now I feel dumb!”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Sebastian cracked a little smile. “It’s not the most common term. Sorry.”

“Why would a cash register need software, anyway?”

“They don’t, really,” Sebastian said, “but having it makes running a store easier. Marnie has a barcode scanner, inventory management so she knows when to reorder things, the register itself can accept credit cards rather than relying on a separate machine, and it just makes the whole thing more intuitive.”

“Ah. In that case, I’m glad you’re helping her out!” Again, Alex smiled warmly. “Check out my pumpkin, bro!” He held up a small gridball helmet. It was crudely done, but it looked enough like a helmet to be recognizable, and it had a little ghost on each side.

“Nice.”

“Do you watch gridball?”

“Nope.” 

There was an awkward silence.

After a surprised blink and shake of the head, Alex spoke. “That’s fine, bro!” Alex took his tiny gridball helmet and put it on top of Abigail’s first jack-o-lantern, a smiling skull. He clapped Sebastian on the shoulder, which caused Sebastian to tense up and flinch. “Aww, my bad, didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“It’s...fine.” Sebastian shrugged. He gave Abigail a pleading look, but she was absorbed in her pumpkin carving.

“What about kickball? Fieldball? Hittin’ the gym?”

Sebastian took a step back. “Um...I’ll watch motocross or skateboarding or snowboarding if they’re on…”

“Nice! Extreme sports! I get too scared watching that stuff, bro, like, what if one of the guys gets hurt?”

“It’s a risk they take.” Sebastian brushed his hair out of his eyes. “They know what they’re getting into.”

“How do they learn how to do the tricks, anyway? Wouldn’t they just, like, die if they hit the ground wrong?”

Sebastian let out a little laugh. “A lot of them practice with foam pits,” he explained. “They have a pit or a pool set up at the end of a ramp, one that’s about as deep with foam chunks as I am tall. They learn the tricks that way. They don’t even try to land them until they’re landing in the foam pit on their feet every single time.”

“That’s super cool! Does Sam ever do that? With the foam pit?”

Jodi’s voice cut through the air like a knife. “He better not, I’d kill him!” She laughed nervously and spoke a little more quietly, to Sebastian and Alex. “I mean, I’d rather him use a foam pit than try to land on his feet, but he better not be doing any tricks that can kill him at all!” 

“Nah, you’re good! He can’t even land a kickflip!” Sebastian laughed. “Seriously, though, he says he’s not even gonna try anything hard until he can afford a good helmet and a set of pads...and that’ll be a long while.”

“Smart dude,” Alex said. “There’s a reason he always got better grades than me, and it wasn’t because he did his homework!” He laughed.

Sebastian shrugged. “He’s got a good head on his shoulders when he remembers to use it.”

Again, Alex laughed. “Right?! Anyway, bro, I’m gonna take off, there’s a college game on that I wanna watch. See ya later, feel free to stop by if you’re ever bored!”

With that, Alex strutted out of the crafts room and Sebastian scurried over to Abigail.

“He thinks we’re bros. Why does he think we’re bros?”

Abigail shrugged. “Don’t know. He asked why you wear black all the time, I asked him why he wears gridball stuff all the time. He said he wanted people to know what he’s into. The conversation kept going, he figured you must be sad and lonely, and then he decided that he should be extra friendly.”

Sebastian ran a hand through his hair. “That’s...sweet, in an odd way.” He picked out a perfectly round pumpkin. “Hey, I think I’m gonna paint this guy iridium purple, like a slime.”

“Just don’t let Sam get ahold of it!” Abigail rolled her eyes. “Remember that black spider jack-o-lantern that Leah made last year?”

Sebastian’s face lit up. “Oh yeah! That was so cool! It had the little pumpkin for a head and then that giant body, and…”

Abigail flinched and put her hands up to her face. “NO! I don’t want to hear anything else about it! It was too realistic!”

“Yeah it was!” Sebastian laughed.

“Anyway, the day after the festival, Sam somehow got that thing and put it right outside my door!”

Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “Okay, that’s not funny! Is that why you were so pissed off at him all winter?”

“Yes! He KNOWS I’m scared of spiders!” Abigail grabbed a can of purple paint and handed it to Sebastian. “I mean, maybe I wasn’t forthcoming enough about how scared I am. There’s a huge difference between being scared of something and it’s okay, like horror movies...and how I feel about spiders. I cannot function when there’s a spider around. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t just snap out of it.”

“I know that feeling.” Sebastian leaned over Abigail’s pumpkin to grab a big paint brush. “For me, it’s not spiders, but I know what it’s like to just get so scared that my brain goes into Fatal Error Mode.”

As he leaned down, Abigail rubbed his back. “It sucks, huh? I wish I had some advice.”

Sebastian kept leaning over, grabbing smaller brushes in hopes that Abigail wouldn’t see him blushing. “Thanks. Are you worried Sam’s gonna steal this pumpkin, too?”

Abigail started working on her second jack-o-lantern by cutting a hole in the side of the pumpkin. “I wouldn’t put it past him to prank the farmer with it.”

“Oh! Yeah, and the farmer’s always packing a sword.” Sebastian chuckled, then looked at his pumpkin. In a high-pitched voice, he said, “Then you’d be an ex-pumpkin, huh? You’d be squirrel food!” He turned back to Abigail and pointed at her pumpkin. “You’re not cutting the top off that one to empty it out?”

“No, I’m gonna hang the guts out of the mouth hole so it looks like it’s barfing!” Abigail laughed. "I’ll put some of the chunks that other people have cut out of their pumpkins in there, too.”

“Okay, that’s awesome!” Sebastian laughed.

“Hey, Sebby!” Robin called from across the room. She held up her discolored, misshapen pumpkin, with a gruesome face stenciled on so that the mouth was actually the bottom of the squash. The way Robin arranged it, it looked like a gaping maw leading into an elongated body. “Doesn’t this look like one of the monsters from that Solarion game?”

Sebastian laughed again. “Oh, Yoba, that’s amazing! It looks like a Poison Ooze Salamander!”

“Yeah, that’s the one! I’m making its mouth huge, so I can cut the base here into its little feet! And the stem is its tail! I should have brought some tools of my own…”

The afternoon went on. Abigail made half a dozen jack-o-lanterns. Sebastian made almost as many, including a tiny face for Alex’s little gridball helmet. Kent and Jodi left behind a few decorated yet undamaged pumpkins that they could use for food in the coming weeks, and Jodi eventually gave Abigail her pumpkin pancake recipe.


	5. Pelican Town Radio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pelican Town now has a public access radio station based out of the Community Center! Listen in on the station's first day, from Lewis and Robin's morning show to Clint's attempt to broadcast a late show while dealing with a drunken Willy's shenanigans.

“Welcome to a dream that has been incubating for years, and has been months in the making.” Mayor Lewis’s voice crackled across the airwaves. “Welcome to a callback to a simpler time, when pelicans roamed the shores...when kids played outside until the streetlights came on...when the entire village smelled like dinner once the sun went down. Welcome,” he said, as a soft jingle began to play, “to KPTR, Pelican Town Radio!”

Lewis sat in the studio, a new room added to the Community Center. He was flanked by Robin and Sebastian on one side, and Maru on the other. “Pelican Town Radio is funded by donations and staffed by volunteers, and for this first edition of Morning Talk, I’m here with three volunteers who were instrumental in getting this radio station started. It’s a pleasure for me to introduce Mrs. Robin, who built the studio room and the server room that made this station possible!”

“Hello, Stardew Valley!” Robin’s voice sounded bright and confident. “Mayor Lewis, thank you for having me. And to all of our listeners, mention Pelican Town Radio when you visit Robin’s Carpenter Shop for 10% off furniture or 20% off a home remodel!”

“My pleasure! I’d also like to introduce Ms. Maru, who set up the computers in the server room, the radio equipment, and the antenna on the mountain.”

“Thank you, Mayor,” Maru said. “This was a fun project!”

“Last but not least, I’d like to introduce Mr. Sebastian, who provided the software for the servers and set this station up to be internet capable. Please, look us up on the web!”

“Hi.”

Lewis gave Sebastian a puzzled look. Sebastian slouched down in his chair. “Mr. Sebastian,” he said, “I understand you have a software business?”

“Yeah.” Again, Sebastian was reticent.

Lewis’s quizzical look turned to one of frustration.

“Well, aren’t you gonna tell us about it?” Lewis hit the laugh track button. Sebastian turned bright red and sunk down even more.

Robin intervened. “Mr. Sebastian is the owner and programmer at Sebwares, that’s S-E-B-W-A-R-E-S, all one word. He’s a freelance software programmer who has designed software solutions for Pelican Town Radio, Pelican Town Medical Clinic, Pierre’s General Store, Marnie’s Ranch, and a handful of other clients around town. Look him up on social media at Sebwares to see how he can help you!”

Sebastian silently gave Robin a thumbs-up.

Lewis spoke again. “On this inaugural episode of Morning Talk, we’ll have news, a call-in quiz game, and the Pelican Town calendar of events.”

“A quiz game!” Robin said. “What does the winner get?”

“Dinner for two at the Stardrop Saloon!”

“Oh, yum! That’ll be great. I wish I could win! I love Mr. Gus’s spaghetti.”

“I’m partial to the Vegetable Medley, myself. It’s all local and fresh!” After a brief pause, Lewis continued. “Before we get to that, though, it’s time for the news.” He pressed a button, starting a busy-sounding news jingle, reminiscent of a telegraph. “Peace talks between the Ferngill Republic and the Gotoro Empire have broken down after the bombing of the village of Ezgil, in the southern part of the Gotoro central state. Ferngill forces state that the Empire forced their hand, and that active aggression was the only choice available after the Empire made what the Ferngill government calls credible threats.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“In the nation’s Capitol District, anti-war protestors are calling for an inquiry into the bombing,” Lewis continued. 

This time, Sebastian smiled and nodded his head. 

“According to the protestors, Ezgil is a bedroom community housing mostly women and children, with no military or industrial infrastructure. However, Ferngill Intelligence Agency sources state that the village is of strategic importance, and that the military had no choice but to take action.” Again, Lewis paused. “Closer to home, construction on the Zuzu Highway Expansion Project hit a snag last night. The Stardew Mountain Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge that will be able to carry four lanes of traffic each way, partially collapsed onto Highway 9 below. Luckily, and surprisingly, there were no injuries to the workers, nor to any drivers on the highway.”

“Thank Yoba!” Robin said.

“I wonder if the collapse had more to do with the construction method, the materials, or the underlying geography?” Maru, forgetting that she was live, spoke freely. 

“That’s for the Department of Transportation to figure out,” Lewis said. “Because of the accident, Highway 9 is closed between Grampleton and Zuzu City. Alternate routes are the Calico Highway through Calico Desert, or Stardew County Road 27 to Highway 239. Good luck getting through that traffic, and expect heavy delays on all routes.” He shuffled his notes around. “In local news, the Night Market is coming to Pelican Town tomorrow night! A fleet of traveling merchant ships, along with a mermaid show and a deep-sea submarine, will be at the Pelican Town beach on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights.”

As if on cue, Robin piped up. “I love the Night Market! Last year, I got a painting there, an original Lupini! It’s called ‘1000 Years From Now’ and it’s hanging up in my bedroom. It’s beautiful.” 

“The Night Market is so fun,” Maru said. “The coffee is great, I wish I knew where the coffee guy gets his coffee from, I’d drink it all year! And the technology on the fishing submarine is really interesting, I’d love to talk tech with the captain at some point. Hey, Sebastian, didn’t you get a Winter Star gift from there last year?” 

Sebastian swallowed hard. “Yeah, I got a Stone Owl for a friend…”

“Very good!” Lewis took over again. “Speaking of gifts, it’s time for today’s Brain Teaser, the trivia game where you, the listener, can call in and win!” Lewis pressed another button. This time, a happy little ditty played. “Today’s prize is dinner for two at the Stardrop Saloon, located in the south part of the town square, thoughtfully donated by our chef and bartender, Mr. Gus! And here’s today’s question: 97% of Pelican Town residents say they would love to receive this gem. Again, 97% of Pelican Town residents would love to receive,” he said, emphasizing the last two words, “This. Gem.” He paused. “Mrs. Robin! Do you have a guess?”

“Um...a diamond!”

Lewis spoke again. “Good guess! We’ll learn soon enough whether that’s correct. Ms. Maru, do you have a guess?”

“I’m guessing a pearl.”

“How about you, Mr. Sebastian?”

“An...amethyst, maybe?”

“All good guesses! Now, we’re going to open up the phone lines to you.”

The phone rang. Lewis picked it up. “Pelican Town Radio, this is Mr. Lewis.”

“Hi, I have a guess for the quiz game.” A woman’s voice came over the air.

“And who am I speaking with?” Lewis asked.

“Ms. Penny.”

“Hi, Ms. Penny! What’s your guess?”

“I’ll guess an emerald.”

Lewis hit a button, which played a loud buzzer. “Nope! Good guess, but try again.”

“Pelican Town Radio, this is Mrs. Robin.”

“Hey, it’s Clint. I’m guessing a ruby.”

Lewis hit the buzzer again. “Nope! Beautiful stone, but not what we’re looking for.” He pressed a button to pick up another line. “Pelican Town Radio, this is Mr. Lewis.”

“Hey, it’s Abigail!”

Upon hearing this, Sebastian sat up a little straighter. A smile crept across his face.

“Go ahead, Ms. Abigail, what’s your guess?”

“I’ll guess...prismatic shard!”

Mayor Lewis hit another button. This time, a “Ding ding ding!” rang out, along with applause and the Brain Teaser jingle.

“I knew it, those things are delicious!” Abigail laughed as the song played.

“Wait, what?” Again, Maru spoke freely.

“Your answer is correct!” Lewis spoke over Maru. “97% of Pelican Town residents would LOVE to receive a prismatic shard! You’re our winner for today, and as such, you get dinner at the Stardrop Saloon! I don’t think prismatic shards are on the menu…”

The morning show went on. Lewis and Robin bounced banter off of each other. Maru interjected when she was asked, or when something was too interesting to let pass without comment. Sebastian did his best to stay off the microphone; he wanted no part in the show.

Morning gave way to music in the afternoon and evening, mostly local acts from Pelican Town and Grampleton. Robin was the DJ, and made sure to play her son’s band’s songs in heavy rotation. 

That night, as the town got ready for bed, Clint and Willy showed up at the studio.

Robin left the studio and gave each man a handshake. “Mr. Clint! Mr. Willy! Hi! I have a set of about 10 songs playing back to back, that should give you plenty of time to get set up. What are you playing tonight?”

“Blues!” Clint said.

“And oldies!” Willy laughed.

“How about some good ol’ twangy country?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, throw it in there! We’re playing drunk old man music tonight!” Willy giggled.

“Oh, Yoba, you’re not actually drunk, are you?” Robin shook her head.

“Not entirely,” Willy said. “Just...mostly.”

“Only about half in the bag…” Clint shrugged and gave Robin a sheepish grin.

Robin cringed. “Guys. Please. Don’t do anything stupid. Keep your language clean, don’t talk about anyone in town, and don’t say anything that you wouldn’t say to the Mayor’s face. If you screw this up, he’ll cry. And then he’ll probably kill you.”

“Okay!” Clint saluted. “Scout’s honor! No swearing, no tomfoolery, no horseplay. Just...drunk old man music.”

“What about fish stories? Fish stories okay?”

“Yeesh. Compared to what you could be saying on air...I’d say fish stories are a somewhat safe choice. But no swearing!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Willy reached out to pat Robin on the head. She blocked his arm and stared him down.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Why not? I was just gonna ruffle your hair! You’re so cute when you’re mad…”

“Because she said no, stupid!” Clint elbowed him. “She’ll punch your lights out!”

A slow, languid smile spread across Willy’s face. “I’d let her...I’d thank her for it.”

“Stop bein’ a damn creep.” Clint opened the studio door. “You say one more thing like that, I’m not giving you a microphone.”

“Can I still sit in the studio and listen to drunk old man music?”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Get your ass in here.”

With that, Clint and Willy made their way to the console. Clint put on a headset and slid a laptop computer over to Willy. “Queue up some songs, man.”

“How the hell do I use this thing?” Willy shook his head and blinked hard.

“Okay. This program is called Playlist Maker, which is how we queue up the songs. We have one song left. So what we’re gonna do,” he said, clicking around on the touchpad, “is add songs from here. See where it says Genres? Okay. I’m opening up Blues.”

“Hey!” Willy laughed. “Muddy Boots! I like those guys!”

“Good, they’re on first. Let’s play their single. Let’s add some Old Billy Picker, some Charlie King, some Runaway Five, some Big Bluesman…” Clint was clicking furiously. “Done! Now we have a little blues set. We can just hit play when we want the next song to play, and pause when we want a break in the music to talk.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Mayor showed me how to use it the other day.”

“Oh yeah, you told me about that!”

The music faded out. Clint pressed the button to turn on his mic. “Hello, Pelican Town and Stardew Valley! This is Clint and Willy with--”

“--drunk old man music!” Willy had found his headset and his talk button.

“Well, yeah, Willy, you’re not wrong. But. This is the Late Show!” Clint pressed a button on the console to play the station’s jingle. “You’re listening to KPTR, Pelican Town Radio! Tonight is Sunday, Winter 14, it’s 10:00 at night, and we’re starting things off with some blues from the Muddy Boots, playing at the Grampleton Marquee Theater tomorrow night. This is their new single, Love Made A Fool Out Of Me.”

The music started.

Clint continued talking. “This one goes out to all the lonely hearts out there, all of us who are too shy and too unlucky in love.”

As the bass kicked in, Clint turned the mics off. 

“Yoba’s ass, you’re talkin’ like a real radio DJ!” Willy laughed. He pulled a flask out of his coat and took a swig.

“Watch your language.”

“How come you’re so awkward normally, but once you get on the radio, you’re all smooth?” Willy let out a low burp and giggled.

Clint shrugged. “I used to be a roadie for a blues band in Grampleton whenever they were on tour. When they were home recording or whatever, I worked at a radio station as a sound guy. They let me fill in for the DJs if someone called in sick.”

“No way!” Willy laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me your life was interesting?”

“You never asked. Besides, it’s not, really...some of the things I’ve done have been kinda cool, but really, I’m just alone, trying to keep the lights on and find love...and a reason to keep waking up every day.”

Just then, the phone rang. Willy and Clint both grabbed for it. Willy got to it first.

“Hyello, Fish Shop.”

“Willy! Say Pelican Town Radio!” Clint hissed.

“Um. Pelican Town Radio!” Willy laughed. He paused, then handed the phone to Clint. “It’s for you.”

Clint gave Willy a confused look and took the handset. He pressed the speakerphone button. “Pelican Town Radio, you’re on the Late Show with Clint.”

“Hi, I’d like to make a request, please.”

“Do we take requests?” Willy slurred.

“Might as well!” Clint laughed. “Yes, sir, what’s your request?”

“I’m in a jazz sort of mood tonight,” the caller said, “and I have a special someone on my mind. Will you please play Someone Like You by Dotsero?”

Willy laughed. “Oh, Yoba! Why? Dotsero’s so namby-pamby and--”

Clint slapped a hand over Willy’s mouth and spoke over him. “--and so precise and evocative! There’s some good stuff going on in the smooth jazz world. So, who am I speaking with?”

“This is Harvey.”

“Hey! Happy birthday, Doc!” Clint uncovered Willy’s mouth. “Say happy birthday to Harvey,” he whispered.

“Happy birthday to Harvey.”

Clint facepalmed. He queued the song up.

“Thanks, gentlemen.”

“Are you dedicating this song to anyone?” Clint asked.

There was an awkward pause. Willy let out a high-pitched giggle.

Finally, Harvey spoke. “Oh, I couldn’t. I’m just too shy.”

“I know that feeling, my man,” Clint said sadly. “For Dr. Harvey, and that unnamed special someone…” Clint pressed the play button and started the song. As the drums and funky bassline started, Clint hung up the phone and turned on his microphone. “This is Someone Like You, by Dotsero. Happy birthday again, Doc, I wish you a year full of happiness and love.”

Willy reached for his microphone button. 

Clint slapped his hand. “Stop it!”

Willy laughed.

“You’re too drunk to be talkin’ on the radio!”

“Oh, yeah, I guess so.” He took another swig from his flask. “I bet it’s Maru.”

“Huh?”

“Harvey’s special someone. I bet it’s Maru…”

“She’s practically a little kid compared to him, man.”

“Well, yeh…” Willy got a far-off look on his face. “But...all that junk in the trunk…” He used his hands to mime something big and round.

“Stop being a pervert!”

“But my microphone’s not on!”

“All microphones are on, all the time,” Clint said. “When you’re in a place with microphones, just assume that they’re live and you’re being recorded.”

“So...I should just...not talk.” Willy giggled.

“Exactly. You can stay here and listen to drunk old man music, or you can go lay on the couch in the crafts room. But don’t get us thrown off the air, because I really miss doing radio!”

The night went on. Clint managed to completely disable Willy’s microphone, which ensured that there would be a late show the next night, too. The Valley was filled with blues, jazz, country, and oldies, just perfect for the truckers cruising down the Calico Highway and the drunk old men tuning in from home...and listening live in the studio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dotsero is a real band, and Someone Like You is a real song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4lUgpqGH90&list=PLAXJQPnBXV9P5qvGBvkd8TqJfgnaFvuVA&index=53


End file.
